Authentication for application

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides a method, terminal, and system for authentication with respect to an application. The present techniques may be applicable at a terminal with near-field communication function. When a particular operation of the application is triggered, a near-field device within a certain distance of a terminal is detected. An identification of the near-field device is obtained. The identification is sent to a server to request the server to determine whether the near-field device is a particular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation. A result of authentication performed by the server according to the identification is obtained. A following processing is applied to the particular operation according to the result of authentication. The present techniques ensure safety of operations of the application operated at the terminal.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application claims foreign priority to Chinese Patent ApplicationNo. 201310526656.2 filed on 30 Oct. 2013, entitled “Method, Terminal,and System for Authentication for Application,” which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the communication field, and, moreespecially, relates to a method, terminal, and system for authenticationfor application.

BACKGROUND

With the development of communication technology, mobile terminals aremore and more favored by a lot of users, and functions of the mobileterminal are becoming more and more powerful. Specifically mobile phoneshave been developed into an intelligent mobile phone stage and arecomparable to computers. At present, there are various applications(App) for a variety of mobile terminals. However, when users use theApps at mobile terminals such as the mobile phones, there are variousauthentication operations. For example, when logging into a useraccount, a user needs to enter a password for authentication. When doingdata interaction with another user, the user needs to enter anauthentication code sent by a third party interactive platform.

There are several conventional authentication methods for datainteraction by using applications at or through the terminals.

A first authentication method is using a user password. The user sets alogin password or data interaction password for a user account. The userneeds to enter the preset password when entering into the account orconducting data interaction. The third party interactive platformauthenticates the log-in operation or data interactive operation of theuser after determining that the password is correct. However, theapplications at the mobile terminal are often set up to rememberpasswords for the convenience of the user. When the mobile terminal ofthe user is used by another person due to loss of the devices, as theapplications remember the password, such applications may be abused byanother person and cause loss of personal interests of the user.

A second authentication method is using a one-time password (OTP). Tovalidate the data interaction, the user needs to input a dynamic code ofa dynamic password card or hardware token (e.g., a string of charactersincluding numbers and characters). The third party interactive platformconducts the data interaction after determining that the OTP is correct.This method requires the user to have one more step(s) of inputting theOTP in addition to the normal data interactive process, therebyincreasing complexity and reducing user experiences.

A third authentication method is using an OTP authentication based onshort message. This method is a type of the OTP authentication and ismainly used at mobile phones. When the user needs to conduct the datainteraction, the user needs to obtain the OTP from the third partyinteractive platform through the mobile phone that is bound with theuser account in a form of short message and inputs the correct OTP at aninteractive page. However, when the mobile phone is lost, suchauthentication method cannot be used and may cause the failure of datainteraction within a short period of time.

Thus, an authentication method that secures the application at theterminal of the user is needed.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify all key featuresor essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intendedto be used alone as an aid in determining the scope of the claimedsubject matter. The term “techniques,” for instance, may refer toapparatus(s), system(s), method(s) and/or computer-readable instructionsas permitted by the context above and throughout the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides a method, terminal, and system forauthentication for application to resolve security problems ofapplications operated on terminals under the conventional techniques.

The present disclosure provides an example method for authentication foran application. The method may be applicable in near-fieldcommunication. When a particular operation is triggered, a near-fielddevice within a certain distance of a terminal is detected. Anidentification of the near-field device is obtained. The identificationis sent to a server to request the server to determine whether thenear-field device is a particular near-field device corresponding to theparticular operation. A result of authentication performed by the serveraccording to the identification is obtained. A following processing isapplied to the particular operation according to the result ofauthentication.

The present disclosure also provides an example terminal with near-fieldcommunication function. The terminal may include a detecting module, anobtaining module, a sending module, a receiving module, and a processingmodule. The detecting module, when a particular operation is triggered,detects a near-field device within a certain distance of the terminal.The obtaining module obtains an identification of the near-field device.The sending module sends the identification to a server to request theserver to determine whether the near-field device is a particularnear-field device corresponding to the particular operation. Thereceiving module receives a result of authentication performed by theserver according to the identification. The processing module applies afollowing processing to the particular operation according to the resultof authentication.

The present disclosure also provides an example terminal systemincluding a terminal with near-field communication function and aparticular near-field device corresponding to the terminal. The terminalmay include a detecting module, an obtaining module, a receiving module,and a processing module. The detecting module, when a particularoperation is triggered, detects a near-field device within a certaindistance of the terminal. The obtaining module obtains an identificationof the near-field device. The sending module sends the identification toa server to request the server to determine whether the near-fielddevice is the particular near-field device corresponding to theparticular operation. The receiving module receives a result ofauthentication performed by the server according to the identification.The processing module applies a following processing to the particularoperation according to the result of authentication. The particularnear-field device and the terminal may have the same near-fieldcommunication function.

Compared with the conventional techniques, the present techniquesauthenticate whether a current operation is a normal operation (or theoperation of the user) by determining whether the near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation exists. If an authenticationof the near-field equipment fails, the current operation is terminatedand a preset secured operation is implemented, thereby ensuring a safeuse of the application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The FIGs are used to further illustrate the present disclosure and are apart of the present disclosure. The example embodiments and theirexplanations are used to illustrate the present disclosure and shall notbe construed as a limit to the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example authentication methodaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example implementation of theauthentication method according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example terminal with near-fieldcommunication function according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example terminal system according tothe present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides an example method for authentication foran application. The present techniques use a near-field communicationfunction of a terminal and, when a particular operation of anapplication at the terminal is triggered, determine whether to releasethe particular operation through determining whether there is aparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operationwithin an effective near-filed communication distance of the terminal,thereby ensuring a safety of using the application at the terminal.

In order to better illustrate the purpose, technical scheme, andadvantage of the present disclosure, the present techniques aredescribed by reference to example embodiments and corresponding FIGs.Certainly, the described example embodiments are only a portion ofembodiment of the present disclosure and are not all of the embodimentsof the present disclosure. Any other embodiment that one of ordinaryskill in the art obtains without using creative efforts based on theembodiment of the present disclosure falls under the scope of protectionof the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides an example method for applicationauthentication. The method may be applicable to a terminal withnear-field communication function, especially a mobile terminal such asa mobile phone and a tablet. The near-field communication function mayinclude, but is not limited to, a Bluetooth communication (Bluetooth)function, a near-field wireless communication function (NFC), and aradio frequency identification (RFID) function. The terminal may be aterminal with one or more of the near-field communication functions.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an exampleauthentication method according to the present disclosure.

At 102, when a particular operation is triggered, a near-field devicewithin a certain distance to the terminal is detected. For example,within an effective near-field communication distance to the terminal,the present techniques may search for whether there is a near-fielddevice that has the same near-filed communication type as the terminal.

At 104, an identification of the near-field device is obtained. Theidentification is sent to a server to request the server to determinewhether the near-field device is a particular near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation.

At 106, a result of authentication performed by the server according tothe identification is received. That is, the result of authentication,returned by the server, whether the near-field device is the particularnear-field device corresponding to the particular operation is received.

At 108, a following processing is applied to the particular operationaccording to the result of authentication. That is, according to theresult of authentication that the server determines whether thenear-field device is the particular near-field device corresponding tothe particular operation, the following processing is applied to theparticular operation.

For example, if the result of authentication is that the near-fielddevice is the particular near-field device corresponding to theparticular operation, the particular operation is performed. If theresult of authentication is that the near-field device is not theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation,a preset safety operation is performed.

To more clearly describe the technical scheme of the example embodimentof the present disclosure, the following more detailed descriptions areprovided by reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example implementation of theauthentication method according to the present disclosure.

At 202, when a particular operation is triggered, the present techniquedetermines whether there needs an authentication of a near-field devicefor the particular operations. In other words, whether theauthentication of the near-field device for the particular operation isneeded is firstly determined.

For example, whether the authentication of the near-field device for theparticular operation is needed may be preset and stored in the server.For instance, the user may use a user account to log into theapplication through another terminal to set whether the authenticationof the near-field device for the particular operation is needed. Anotherterminal may be a desktop computer or a portable computer. For instance,the user may log into the application via the desktop computer and setthat the application needs the authentication of the near-field devicewith respect to the particular operation. In addition, a particularnear-field device corresponding to the particular operation may bepreset. That is, the particular operation and an identification of theparticular near-field device have a corresponding relationship. In fact,the user account that sets the particular operations that needs theauthentication of the near-field device is bound with the particularnear-field device. (For instance, the corresponding relationship betweenthe particular operation and the identification of the particularnear-field device is set by the user through logging into the useraccount of the application. Thus, the particular near-field device alsocorresponds to the user account.)

The particular near-field device may be specified by the user. Thecorresponding relationship between the particular near-field device andthe particular operation may be set through an interaction between theterminal and the server. The server includes a storage device of datainformation of the application at a back-end. A display and processingof the application are implemented through data interaction with theserver. The identification of the particular near-field device is storedat the server to determine whether the particular near-field device thathas the identification is the particular near-field device correspondingto the particular operation.

The near-field communication function may include, but is not limitedto, a Bluetooth communication (Bluetooth) function, a near-fieldwireless communication (NFC) function, a radio frequency identification(RFID) function. The particular near-field device and the terminal mayhave the same near-field communication mode so that the particularnear-field device and the terminal may have near-field communication.For example, with respect to the mobile terminal that has the Bluetoothcommunication function, the particular near-field device may be a devicethat has the Bluetooth communication function such as a Bluetoothearphone or a Bluetooth mouse. The particular near-field device may bethe same type of device as that of the terminal. For example, when theterminal is a mobile phone with Bluetooth function, the particularnear-field device may also be the mobile phone with Bluetooth function.In such circumstances, these two terminals are near-field devices toeach other. In other words, when the application is used at oneterminal, the other terminal may be used as the particular near-fielddevice, and vice versa. There may be one or more particular near-fielddevices. In other words, one or more particular near-field devices maybe set corresponding to the particular operation (such as the particularoperation of the application for the user that is identified by the useraccount). The identification of the particular near-field device may beused to bind the corresponding relationship between the particularoperation and the particular near-field device.

The identification of the near-field device may be a physical address ofthe near-field device (such as a MAC address), a name of the near-fielddevice defined by the user. For example, the MAC address of theparticular near-field device may be stored at the server. When thenear-field device is authenticated, the terminal obtains the MAC addressof the near-field device and uploads it to the server. The serverinquires whether the MAC address of the near-field device to beauthenticated matches the MAC address of the particular near-fielddevice, stored at the server, corresponding to the particular operationand thus authenticates whether the near-field device to be authenticatedis the particular near-field device corresponding to the particularoperation. When the near-field device is a Bluetooth device, theidentification may be a Bluetooth device address. Each Bluetoothtransceiver and receiver is assigned a unique 48 bit device address. Thedevice address includes a 24 bit LAP domain, a 16 bit NAP domain, and an8 bit UAP domain. The Bluetooth device address of the Bluetooth devicemay be stored at the server. When the near-field device isauthenticated, the terminal obtains the Bluetooth device address of thenear-field device and uploads it to the server. The server inquireswhether the Bluetooth device address of the Bluetooth device to beauthenticated matches the Bluetooth device address of the particularBluetooth device, stored at the server, corresponding to the particularoperation and thus authenticates whether the Bluetooth device to beauthenticated is the particular Bluetooth device corresponding to theparticular operation.

According to an example embodiment of the application, whether theparticular operation needs authentication of the particular near-fielddevice may not be set through the terminal that is currently used toensure that another operator cannot freely change the setting when thedevice is operated by another person due to lost of the user or anyother reason. Another terminal may be a personal computer (such as thedesktop computer or the portable computer), smart phone, and tablet.Another terminal may be the personal computer preferably. When the userneeds to set whether the particular operation needs authentication ofthe particular near-field device through a certain terminal, the serveridentifies a device type of the terminal and determines whether thesetting becomes effective according to the device type. In other words,the server determines whether the type of the terminal is a designateddevice type that needs authentication of the near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation. If the result is positive,the setting is stored at the server. Otherwise, the setting is void.

According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, thecorresponding relationship between the particular operation and theidentification of the particular near-field device may be preset. Inother words, the identification of the particular near-field device isused to pre-combine the particular operation and the particularnear-field device. When the user triggers the particular operationagain, the authentication of the near-field device is conducted withrespect to the particular operation. The preset correspondingrelationship between the particular operation and the particularnear-filed device is stored at the server.

For example, the setting of the application by the user may be stored atthe server. The authentication of the near-field device for theparticular operation may be set as a function of the application, whichis referred to as the near-field authentication function. The setting ofthe user to the near-field authentication function of the applicationfor the particular operation (or setting data) may be stored at theserver. The setting may include saving an open and close status of thenear-field authentication function (or status data), saving theidentification of the particular near-field device that is bound withthe terminal in advance. When the user triggers the particular operationof the application through another terminal, the server checks thesetting of the near-field authentication function that the user sets forthe application. If the user does not open the near-field authenticationfunction for the particular operation, such when the user firstlytriggers the particular operation of the application (when the user doesnot open the near-field authentication function for the particularoperation), the server prompts the user whether to set theauthentication of the near-field device for the particular operation. Inother words, the server reminds the user whether to open the near-fieldauthentication function for the particular operation. If the userselects to open the near-field authentication function, the serverreminds the user to set one or more particular near-field devicescorresponding to the particular operation. It should be noted that, whensetting whether the particular operation of the application needs thenear-field device authentication, the user is not restricted to make thesetting at another terminal when the user firstly triggers theparticular operation of the application. In other words, the user maymodify the setting of the near-field device authentication for theparticular operation at another terminal based on personal needs.

The particular operation may be one or more operations of theapplication, such as a logging-in operation when the application islogged into, a payment confirmation operation for making payment. Inaddition, one or more operations of the application may be set as theparticular operation through logging into the application. When the useropens the application and triggers any operation, if the operation isthe preset particular operation, the present techniques may inquirewhether the near-field authentication is required for the particularoperation to determine whether the near-field authentication should beapplied for the particular operation.

When the particular operation of the application is triggered, aninquiry request whether the particular operation needs near-field deviceauthentication is sent to the server. The present techniques determinewhether the particular operation needs the near-field deviceauthentication based on an inquiry result returned by the server.Whether the particular operation needs the near-field deviceauthentication is preset and stored at the server. After receiving theinquiry request, the server inquires whether the user sets thenear-field device authentication for the particular operation andreturns the inquiry result. Thus, based on the inquiry result returnedby the server, the present techniques determine whether to conductauthentication of the near-field device for the particular operation.

For example, when the user uses a payment application for payment, afterthe user clicks a button to confirm payment (such payment confirmationoperation may be preset as the particular operation), the applicationsends the inquiry request to the server to request the server to inquirewhether the user sets that the payment confirmation operation needs theauthentication of the near-field device, thereby determining whether toconduct the authentication of the near-field device for the paymentconfirmation operation.

If the particular operation does not need the authentication of thenear-field device, operations at 212 are performed. The particularoperation is performed. In other words, the particular operationtriggered by the user is implemented.

If the particular operation needs the authentication of the near-fielddevice, operations at 204 are performed. At 204, the near-field devicewithin a certain distance to the terminal is detected. For example, thepresent techniques may search whether there is the near-field devicewithin the effective near-field communication distance to the terminal.

The terminal and the near-field device may have the same near-fieldcommunication. The terminal may have more than one near-fieldcommunication mode (such that the terminal may have both Bluetoothfunction and NFC function). Thus, the terminal needs to have the samenear-field communication mode as the near-field device to conduct thenear-field communication when the near-field device is authenticated.For example, the near-field communication mode may be Bluetoothcommunication and the near-field device may be a Bluetooth earphone. Thecertain distance is the effective near-field communication distance. Theterminal needs to be within the certain distance to the near-fielddevice for communication. Thus, the near-field device may be searchedand the terminal may be matched to the near-field device forcommunication. In other words, when the near-field device correspondingto the particular operation is within the effective near-fieldcommunication distance to the terminal, the terminal may start to searchthe near-field device.

For example, the application is opened on the mobile phone withBluetooth function. As the effective Bluetooth communication distance ingeneral is about 10 meters, when the particular operation of theapplication is used, the Bluetooth device that is bound with particularoperation needs to be within 10 meters of the terminal. Thus, the mobilephone is capable to search the Bluetooth device and obtains deviceinformation, such as a device identification, of the device throughmatching with the device. As the effective distance of Bluetoothcommunication in general is about 10 meters, the user only needs tocarry the Bluetooth device (such as the Bluetooth earphone)corresponding to the mobile phone and does not need to let the Bluetoothearphone be close to the mobile phone.

If the near-field device exists within the certain distance to theterminal, operations at 206 are performed.

At 206, the identification of the near-field device is obtained. Theidentification is sent to the server to request the server to determinewhether the near-field device is the particular near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation.

The server stores the preset corresponding relationship between theparticular operation and the identification of the particular near-fielddevice. If a search result shows that there is the near-field devicewithin the effective near-field communication distance to the terminal,through a mapping with the near-field device, the terminal starts thenear-field communication with the near-field device and further obtainsthe identification of the near-field device. After the identification ofthe near-field device is obtained, the terminal sends the identificationto the server and requests the server to inquire whether the near-fielddevice is the particular near-field device corresponding to theparticular operation, i.e., the preset near-field device bound with theparticular operation.

When receiving the requests to authenticate whether the near-fielddevice is the particular near-field device corresponding to theparticular operation, the server authenticates according to the receivedidentification sent by the terminal and the corresponding relationshipbetween the particular operation and the identification of theparticular near-field device and returns a result of authentication.

For example, the server stores the preset corresponding relationshipbetween the particular operation and the identification of theparticular near-field device. When the identification of the near-fielddevice sent by the terminal is received, the server compares theidentification with the identification of the particular near-fielddevice corresponding to the particular operation stored at the server toauthenticate whether the near-field device is the particular near-fielddevice corresponding to the particular operation and return the resultof the authentication. If the identification of the near-field devicematches the identification of the particular near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation, the near-field device is theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation.That is, there exits the particular near-field device corresponding tothe particular operation within the effective near-field communicationdistance. If the identification of the near-field device does not matchthe identification of the particular near-field device corresponding tothe particular operation, the near-field device is not the particularnear-field device corresponding to the particular operation. That is,there is no particular near-field device corresponding to the particularoperation within the effective near-field communication distance.

The identification of the near-field device may be a physical address ofthe near-field device (such as a MAC address), a name of the near-fielddevice defined by the user. The identification may be stored at theserver. For example, the MAC address of the near-field device may beused to bind the near-field device with terminal. The MAC address of thenear-field device is stored at the server. When the near-field device isauthenticated, the MAC address of the near-field device is sent to theserver to request the server to authenticate whether the foundnear-field device is the particular near-field device bound with theparticular operation. The server, according to the MAC address and thecorresponding relationship, which is stored at the server, between theMAC address that the particular near-field device corresponding to theparticular operation, authenticates whether the near-field device is theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operationand returns the result of authentication.

At 208, the result of authentication performed by the server accordingto the identification is obtained. That is, the result ofauthentication, returned by the server, whether the near-field device isthe particular near-field device corresponding to the particularoperation is received.

At 210, a following processing is applied to the particular operationaccording to the result of authentication. That is, according to theresult of authentication that the server determines whether thenear-field device is the particular near-field device corresponding tothe particular operation, the following processing is applied to theparticular operation.

The operations at 210 may include two scenarios. At one scenario, whenthe result of authentication is that the near-field device is theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation,the particular operation is performed. At another scenario, if theresult of authentication is that the near-field device is not theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation,a preset safety operation is performed.

For example, the user opens the application through the terminal. Theparticular near-field device bound with the particular operation is aBluetooth earphone. When the user opens the application at the terminaland triggers the logging-in operation (such logging-in operation may bepreset as the particular operation), the inquiry request is sent to thesever and the returning result from the server is that theauthentication of the device is required for the logging-in operation.The terminal uses the same near-field communication mode as thenear-field device. In other words, a Bluetooth device is searched withthe effective near-field communication distance to the terminal. If theBluetooth device is found within the effective near-field communicationdistance to the terminal, a MAC address of the Bluetooth device isobtained. The MAC address is sent to the server to request the server toinquire whether the Bluetooth device is the particular Bluetooth devicecorresponding to the particular operation. The server, after receivingthe MAC address, compares it with the previously stored MAC address ofthe Bluetooth earphone of the terminal. If a result returned by theserver is that the two MAC addresses match, the Bluetooth device is theBluetooth earphone corresponding to the particular operation. That is,the authentication of the near-field device is successful. If the resultreturned by the server is that the two MAC addresses do not match, theBluetooth device is not the Bluetooth earphone corresponding to theparticular operation. That is, the authentication of the near-fielddevice is not successful. The preset safety operations are performed.

For example, the user may use the payment application at the terminal.When the user clicks a “confirmation of payment” button (a paymentconfirmation operation may be preset as the particular operation), ifthe user sets that authentication of the near-field device is requiredfor the payment application, the present techniques search whether thereis the near-field device that has the same near-field communicationfunction as the terminal within the effective near-field communicationdistance, obtains the identification of the found near-field device, andsends the identification to the server to request the server toauthenticate whether the device is the particular near-field devicecorresponding to the payment confirmation operation. In other words, thepresent techniques search whether there exists the particular near-fielddevice corresponding to the particular operation within the effectivenear-field communication distance to the terminal. If there does notexist such near-field device, the authentication fails and the presetsafety operations are performed. For example, the near-field device thathas the same near-field communication mode with the terminal is notfound with the effective near-field communication distance to theterminal. Alternatively, the found near-field device is not theparticular near-field device bound the particular operation. Suchfailures of authentication may indicate that the payment confirmationoperation is an abnormal operation (for example, another person mayabuse the terminal of the user when the terminal of the user is lost).

At 204, if no near-field device is detected within the certain distanceto the terminal, or there is no particular near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation within the effectivenear-field communication distance to the terminal, operations at 214 areperformed. The preset safety operation is performed.

The preset safety operation may include one or more of the followingoperations: to lock the terminal, to clear the password in the memory ofthe terminal, and to notify another terminal.

For example, when the particular near-field device is not found withinthe effective communication distance to the terminal, or theauthentication of the near-field device fails, the terminal may belocked. For instance, when the terminal is the mobile phone, thecurrently triggered particular operation is terminated and a screen ofthe mobile phone is locked. That is, a preset screen lock password needsto be input to unlock it so that the current operator may not continueto use the mobile phone.

For another example, the password stored at the terminal may be clearedor the application may be deleted or uninstalled. For instance, when theuser logs into the application, for the convenience of followinglogging-in, the user often sets that the application remembers thelog-in password. If the mobile phone of the user is lost, another personmay use the password stored at the mobile phone to log into and use theapplication. Thus, when the authentication of the near-field devicefails, the current operation is terminated and the password in thememory is cleared. Although the log-in password is correct, as theauthentication of the near-field device at the mobile phone fails, themobile phone terminates the currently triggered particular operation(such that the mobile phone does not send a request to log into theapplication to the server). Thus, the current operator still cannotsuccessfully log into the user's account of the application.

For another example, another terminal may be notified. The use may setthat, when the authentication of the near-field device fails, a reminderis automatically sent to another terminal. For instance, if the mobilephone of the user is lost, when another person uses the application onthe mobile phone of the user for the particular operation, as there isno particular near-field device corresponding to the mobile phone (suchas a Bluetooth phone), the authentication of the near-field devicefails. The mobile phone of the user sends the reminder in one or moreforms such as a short text message to another terminal. For instance,the user may set a number of another mobile phone as a phone number tosend the reminding short text message. When the authentication of thenear-field device fails, the reminding short text message isautomatically sent to the number of another phone. Thus, the presenttechniques not only ensure the use safety of the application but alsoremind the user when the user is unaware that the user's mobile phone islost. In addition, when the authentication of the near-field devicefails, a Global Positioning System (GPS) may be opened for localizationand a camera (such as a front-end camera) may be used to capture aphoto. The current position information of the terminal through alocalization technique or the photo capture by the camera is sent toanother terminal in one or more forms such as a reminding short textmessage. Thus, information of the current location of the terminal isobtained so that the user may find the terminal.

According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, theauthentication of the near-field device may be configured as a hiddenprocess. That is, in the authentication process, no prompt is shown inthe page of the application to show any authentication of the near-fielddevice. Thus, the current operator is not aware of the ongoingauthentication operation.

The present disclosure also provides an example terminal with near-fieldcommunication function. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exampleterminal 300 with near-field communication function according to thepresent disclosure. For example, the terminal 300 may include one ormore processor(s) 302 or data processing unit(s) and memory 304. Thememory 304 is an example of computer-readable media. The memory 304 maystore therein a plurality of modules including a detecting module 306,an obtaining module 308, a sending module 310, a receiving module 312,and a processing module 314.

The detecting module 306, when a particular operation is triggered,detects a near-field device within a certain distance of the terminal.The obtaining module 308 obtains an identification of the near-fielddevice. The sending module 310 sends the identification to a server torequest the server to determine whether the near-field device is aparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation.The receiving module 312 receives a result of authentication performedby the server according to the identification. The processing module 314applies a following processing to the particular operation according tothe result of authentication.

According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, if theresult of authentication is that the near-field device is the particularnear-field device corresponding to the particular operation, theprocessing module 314 may further perform the particular operation. Ifthe result of authentication is that the near-field device is not theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation,the processing module 314 may perform a preset safety operation.

According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, theterminal 300 may also include a determining module (not shown in FIG. 3)that, when the particular operation is triggered, sends a request to theserver to inquire whether the particular operation needs conducts theauthentication of the particular near-field device, and determineswhether to conduct the authentication of the near-field device for theparticular operation according to a result returned by the server.

According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, thedetecting module 306 further detects the near-field device within thecertain distance of the terminal. The obtaining module 308 obtains theidentification of the near-field device if the near-field device exists.The processing module 314 performs the preset safety operation if thenear-field device does not exist.

For example, the certain distance may be an effective near-fieldcommunication distance to the terminal.

For example, the preset safety operation may include one or more of thefollowing operations: to lock the terminal, to clear the password in thememory of the terminal, and to notify another terminal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example terminal system 400according to the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the terminalsystem 400 includes a terminal 402 with near-field communicationfunction and a particular near-field device 404 corresponding to theterminal.

The terminal 402 may include one or more processor(s) 406 or dataprocessing unit(s) and memory 408. The memory 408 is an example ofcomputer-readable media. The memory 408 may store therein a plurality ofmodules including a detecting module 410, an obtaining module 412, asending module 414, a receiving module 416, and a processing module 418.

The detecting module 410, when a particular operation is triggered,detects a near-field device within a certain distance of the terminal.The obtaining module 412 obtains an identification of the near-fielddevice. The sending module 414 sends the identification to a server torequest the server to determine whether the near-field device is aparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation.The receiving module 416 receives a result of authentication performedby the server according to the identification. The processing module 418applies a following processing to the particular operation according tothe result of authentication.

The particular near-field device 404 and the terminal 402 may have thesame near-field communication function. For example, the near-fieldcommunication may be the Bluetooth communication. The particularnear-field device may be the Bluetooth earphone.

As the operations implement by the terminal and the terminal system aresimilar to those as described in FIGS. 1 and 2 and their correspondingparagraphs in the example method embodiments, details of the exampleterminal embodiment and the example terminal system embodiment may referto relevant portions in the example embodiments and are not describedherein for the purpose of brevity.

In a standard configuration, a computing device, such as the server, theterminal or the near-field device, as described in the presentdisclosure may include one or more central processing units (CPU), oneor more input/output interfaces, one or more network interfaces, andmemory.

The memory may include forms such as non-permanent memory, random accessmemory (RAM), and/or non-volatile memory such as read only memory (ROM)and flash random access memory (flash RAM) in the computer-readablemedia. The memory is an example of computer-readable media.

The computer-readable media includes permanent and non-permanent,movable and non-movable media that may use any methods or techniques toimplement information storage. The information may be computer-readableinstructions, data structure, software modules, or any data. The exampleof computer storage media may include, but is not limited to,phase-change memory (PCM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), other type RAM, ROM, electrically erasableprogrammable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, internal memory,CD-ROM, DVD, optical memory, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, any othermagnetic storage device, or any other non-communication media that maystore information accessible by the computing device. As defined herein,the computer-readable media does not include transitory media such as amodulated data signal and a carrier wave.

It should be noted that the term “including,” “comprising,” or anyvariation thereof refers to non-exclusive inclusion so that a process,method, product, or device that includes a plurality of elements doesnot only include the plurality of elements but also any other elementthat is not expressly listed, or any element that is essential orinherent for such process, method, product, or device. Without morerestriction, the elements defined by the phrase “including a . . . ”does not exclude that the process, method, product, or device includesanother same element in addition to the element.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the exampleembodiments may be presented in the form of a method, a system, or acomputer software product. Thus, the present techniques may beimplemented by hardware, computer software, or a combination thereof. Inaddition, the present techniques may be implemented as the computersoftware product that is in the form of one or more computer storagemedia (including, but is not limited to, disk, CD-ROM, or opticalstorage device) that include computer-executable or computer-readableinstructions.

The above description describes the example embodiments of the presentdisclosure, which should not be used to limit the present disclosure.One of ordinary skill in the art may make any revisions or variations tothe present techniques. Any change, equivalent replacement, orimprovement without departing the spirit and scope of the presenttechniques shall still fall under the scope of the claims of the presentdisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: detecting a near-fielddevice near a terminal when a particular operation is triggered;obtaining an identification of the near-field device; sending theidentification of the near-field device to a server to request theserver to conduct an authentication of the near-field device thatmatches the near-field device with a particular near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation according to theidentification of the near-field device; and receiving a result ofauthentication performed by the server according to the identificationof the near-field device; and detecting no near-field device near aterminal when a particular operation is triggered, and in response todetecting no near-field device near the terminal, performing presetsafety operations and locating current position of the terminal.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising applying a following process tothe particular operation according to the result of authentication. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein the applying the following process to theparticular operation according to the result of authenticationcomprises, if the result of authentication is that the near-field deviceis the particular near-field device corresponding to the particularoperation, performing the particular operation.
 4. The method of claim2, wherein the applying the following process to the particularoperation according to the result of authentication comprises, if theresult of authentication is that the near-field device is not theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operation,performing one or more preset safety operations.
 5. The method of claim4, wherein the one or more safety operations include one or more of thefollowing operations: locking the terminal; clearing a password inmemory of the terminal; and notifying another terminal.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising storing a corresponding relationship betweenthe particular operation and the particular near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation at the server.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein the sending the identification of the near-fielddevice to a server to request the server to conduct the authenticationof the near-field device that matches the near-field device with aparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operationaccording to the identification of the near-field device comprises:requesting the server to conduct the authentication of the near-fielddevice based on the identification of the near-field device and thecorresponding relationship between the particular operation and theparticular near-field device corresponding to the particular operationat the server.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending aninquiry to the server to inquire whether the particular operation needsthe authentication of the near-field device; and determining to conductthe authentication of the near-field device according to an inquiryresult returned by the server.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising storing the particular operation that needs authentication ofthe particular near-field device at the server.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein the detecting the near-field device near the terminal when aparticular operation is triggered comprises detecting the near-fielddevice within an effective near-field communication distance to theterminal.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the near-field device andthe terminal have a same near-field communication mode.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein the near-field communication mode includes one ormore of the following: a Bluetooth communication (Bluetooth); anear-field wireless communication (NFC) function; and a radio frequencyidentification (RFID).
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the near-fielddevice is a Bluetooth earphone.
 14. A terminal comprising: one or moreprocessors: and a memory including instructions executable by the one ormore processors, which when executed perform the following actscomprising: detecting a near-field device near a terminal when aparticular operation is triggered; obtaining an identification of thenear-field device; sending the identification to a server to request theserver to conduct an authentication of the near-field device thatmatches the near-field device with a particular near-field devicecorresponding to the particular operation according to theidentification of the near-field device; and receiving a result ofauthentication performed by the server according to the identification;and detecting no near-field device near a terminal, when a particularoperation is triggered, and in response to detecting no near-fielddevice near the terminal, performing preset safety operations andlocating current position of the terminal.
 15. The terminal of claim 14,the acts further comprising a-performing the particular operation if theresult of authentication is that the near-field device is the particularnear-field device corresponding to the particular operation, orperforming one or more preset safety operations if the result ofauthentication is that the near-field device is not the particularnear-field device corresponding to the particular operation.
 16. Theterminal of claim 14, the acts further comprising a-sending an inquiryto the server to inquire whether the particular operation needsauthentication of the near-field device and determining to conduct theauthentication of the near-field device according to an inquiry resultreturned by the server.
 17. The terminal of claim 14, wherein thedetecting detects the near-field device within an effective near-fieldcommunication distance to the terminal.
 18. A-system comprising: aterminal including: one or more processors: and a memory includinginstructions executable by the one or more processors, which whenexecuted perform the following acts comprising: detecting, when aparticular operation is triggered, a near-field device near theterminal; obtaining an identification of the near-field device; sendingthe identification to a server to request the server to conduct anauthentication of the near-field device that matches the near-fielddevice with a particular near-field device corresponding to theparticular operation according to the identification of the near-fielddevice; and receiving a result of authentication performed by the serveraccording to the identification; and detecting no near-field device neara terminal, when a particular operation is triggered, and in response todetecting no near-field device near the terminal, performing presetsafety operations and locating current position of the terminal; and thenear-field device.
 19. The terminal system of claim 18, wherein: thenear-field device is a Bluetooth earphone.